TIMID TRIPLE

But it is easy to forget that 44 years ago, the company produced another big triple, the XS750, which in hindsight, was a lot better motorcycle than it was first given credit for. True, the XS750 lasted in production under four years, replaced by the 850cc version that had an even shorter life. But back then, Yamaha were extremely keen to expunge all memory of its first four-stroke 750, the ill-fated and similarly maligned TX750 twin – another bike that now seems to have got a bit of a raw deal.

So it was not at all unusual that Yamaha’s engineers started with a clean sheet of paper, and a brief to get cracking on producing a Tuning-fork contestant in the 750cc class, if not the outright category, at that stage still the domain of the Kawasaki Z series. Yet rather than join the now ubiquitous Japanese four-cylinder set, Yamaha once again went their own way and opted for a triple. The release of the XS750 almost coincided with that of the excellent Suzuki GS750 – the first four-stroke multi from that company as well, which was